Obesity in preschoolers leads to exacerbated asthma

Overweight/obese preschools have greater asthma symptoms than normal-weight children when untreated.

(HealthDay News) — For preschool children, overweight/obesity is associated with more asthma symptom days and exacerbations among those not treated with a daily controller, and inhaled corticosteroids (ICS) are associated with significant improvements among overweight/obese preschoolers, according to research published online Dec. 19 in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Jason E Lang, MD, MPH, from the Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, NC, and colleagues examined the correlations between overweight/obesity and asthma severity and response to ICS in preschool children. Data were included from 3 large trials involving 2- to 5-year-old children, which compared annualized asthma symptom days and exacerbations among normal-weight and overweight/obese participants.

The researchers found that within the group not treated with a daily controller, overweight/obese children had significantly more asthma symptom days and exacerbations than normal-weight children. Overweight/obese and normal-weight children had similar asthma symptom days and exacerbations within the ICS-treated groups. In overweight/obese children, daily ICS vs placebo led to fewer annualized asthma symptom days and exacerbations, while similar protective ICS effects were less apparent in normal-weight children.

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